Basler camera interface with ROS

These are the steps needed to publish Basler camera images to ROS:

1. Get the Pylon 5 Camera Software Suite from the Basler website:

   http://www.baslerweb.com/en/support/downloads/software-downloads?type=28&series=0&model=0

2. Follow these instructions (also available in the install file):

a. Change to the directory which contains this INSTALL file, e.g.:

cd ~/pylon-5.0.1.6388-x86_64

b. Extract the corresponding SDK into /opt

sudo tar -C /opt -xzf pylonSDK*.tar.gz

c. Install udev-rules to set up permissions for basler USB cameras

./setup-usb.sh

d. Unplug and replug all USB cameras to get the udev rules applied.

e. Execute /opt/pylon5/bin/PylonViewerApp to test your cameras.

3. Setup your environment for pylon to find the necessary dependencies:

   source /opt/pylon5/bin/pylon-setup-env.sh /opt/pylon5

   If using it more than once, you probably also want to add this to your ~/.bashrc

4. Build the package using catkin_make

5. Launch the basler_Camera node with:

   roslaunch basler_camera basler_camera.launch

   The frame rate could be modified using the frame_rate parameter.

   The camera can optionally be selected with the serial_number parameter.

6. The image can be visualized using image_view:

   rosrun image_view image_view image:=/camera/image_raw

7. If you have a stereo system then launch the cameras as:

   roslaunch basler_camera stereo_rectified.launch

   or:

   roslaunch basler_camera stereo_unrectified.launch